1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the dispensing art, and particularly relates to a class of portable dispensers for adhesively-coated tapes and particularly of the type having a protective backing, such as duct tape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the installation of air-handling equipment such as air conditioners and heaters, specialists in this field are typically required to custom-manufacture air-handling ducts which move the air from the heater or air conditioner to different parts of a building. This duct work usually consists of a fiberglass insulative material having an outer aluminum foil surface. In order to make a joint between adjacent "runs" of duct material and to seal corners of ducts, it is customary to use a class of adhesively-coated tapes known as "duct tape." This type of tape usually consists of a rather stiff aluminum foil having the adhesive on one side, and with a waxed paper or similar material forming a protective coating over the adhesive until such time as the protective backing is removed for installation. These types of rather high quality tapes are required in order to ensure a leakproof duct.
However, thin metallic tapes of this type are difficult to handle, and the difficulty with such tapes is magnified in the close quarters where such duct work is customarily installed (i.e. in the crawl space for a single family residence, for example). Additionally, where a large quantity of tape is used, the large amount of waste backing paper presents clean up problems.
The prior art discloses a variety of tape dispensers. Examples of such arrangements are contained in the following U.S. Pats. Nos.: 4,240,867 to Diegel; 3,186,892 to Walthers; 3,136,462 to Knutson; 1,344,427 to Moscini; 1,136,497 to Swallow; and 1,029,308 to Merwin, et al. However, prior art dispensers, including those of the type disclosed in the above patents, do not lend themselves to use in dispensing duct tape in the environment discussed above.